Dissertation Oral Defenses

This research study used an interpretive phenomenological analysis (IPA) approach to explore the transgenerational impact of narcissistic parenting. Specifically, it aimed to examine the lived experiences of women raised by narcissistic mothers and explore their views on how that narcissistic parenting impacted their parenting of their own children. For purposes of this study, narcissistic parenting…

This dissertation explores the trend of desexualization in contemporary Anglo-Saxon psychoanalytic theory and practice. The study begins with revisiting Sigmund Freud’s (1905/1953) pioneering ideas, which considered sexuality central to the unconscious and therefore to psychoanalysis. It then examines post-Freudian developments in theory and observes shifts in what various theoretical orientations consider central to psychoanalysis, noting…

This study explored whether therapists with a personal trauma history view their experiences as positive, growth-promoting, and curative while engaged in treating traumatized clients. It challenged the notion of vicarious traumatization being unilaterally associated with long-term trauma work, as stipulated by existing research. The researcher examined whether formerly traumatized therapists view themselves as Wounded Healers,…

Mass shootings perpetrated in public settings with forethought and planning have become a regular occurrence in the United States. This depth psychological hermeneutic study focuses on one specific tragedy, the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings, and seeks to understand its underlying cultural and archetypal implications. The study closely examines the Sandy Hook moment and its…

This hermeneutic study employs the theoretical lens of James Hillman’s archetypal psychology to re-imagine Friedrich Nietzsche’s writings as a polytheistic odyssey, that is to say, as a daring journey into the unknown, informed by an array of archetypal perspectives, each represented by a specific Greek god or goddess. Nietzsche, it is argued, anticipated archetypal psychology,…

This hermeneutic theoretical dissertation addresses the concept of unconscious-to-unconscious communication within three psychoanalytic paradigms—classical psychoanalysis, object relations, and analytic field theory—and illustrates each of these paradigm’s tenets about the unconscious and the related topic of unconscious-to-unconscious communication. The dissertation shows the three psychoanalytic paradigmatic views through summaries of the theoretical perspectives of significant psychoanalysts along…

This research investigates the role of meaningful aromas through a hermeneutical intersection of the natural sciences, philosophy, and depth psychology. Part 1 analyzes how fragrances can be constructed as psychic images. Following Jung, perceptual images are differentiated from memory images. Four qualities necessary for the formation of scent images are then identified: evocative, idiosyncratic, emotional,…

Finding efficacious treatments for severe trauma and PTSD is an important endeavor in the field of clinical psychology. The present qualitative phenomenological study examines the experiences of clinicians (participants) and their patients, specifically veterans and soldiers suffering from severe trauma or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder symptoms. Giorgi and Moustakas’s phenomenological methods were employed in the…

A trauma informed approach to mental health care is emerging as one of the forefront treatments in evidenced based practices. Trauma is not only directly or indirectly experienced but can also be transmitted generationally. This qualitative study focuses on the experiences shared by two third generation survivors of the Japanese American internment camps of World…

Broaching the topic of age in the youth-and-beauty-obsessed American culture can often be a charged endeavor, laced with bias and prejudice. To provide insight into this delicate issue, this research study focuses on the lived experience of gay men as they age through their middle years. Using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis, six men over the age…

In searching for restorative stories that elevate understanding and engender the capacity for seeing through the cultural chaos and confusion of modern times, this dissertation turns to Egypt at the beginning of its recorded history, approximately 3100 BCE. The ancient Egyptians faced many of the same challenges facing the world today, and they learned to…

This dissertation employs interpretive phenomenological analysis (IPA) to study the lived experience of 6 individuals engaged in relational guided imagery (RGI). Countervailing the Industrial Revolution’s spiritual alienation, and loss of symbolic perspective, a romantic current arose in German Idealism that elevated human imagination to a superordinate, world-making power. In this context, Jung’s analytical psychology compensated…

The purpose of the study was to explore the vampire archetype and how it may present, be similar to, and contribute to an insecure attachment style. The aim of the study was to describe and understand the archetype of the vampire and examine how therapists’ exploration of this archetype with patients could provide, for both…

This qualitative study addresses the lived experience of participants in a specific somatic psychotherapy practice, relational somatic psychotherapy (RSP). The RSP approach is a biologically based, interpersonal exploration of consciousness and self-awareness through authentic relationship (Hilton, 2007). Following an Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) methodology, this study analyzes interviews focused on how participants experienced the somatically…

This hermeneutic study of Ayn Rand’s The Fountainhead attempts to understand the psychological issues associated with the novel. It makes a depth psychological reading of The Fountainhead’s three main characters: Peter Keating, who is swallowed by collective attitudes and expectations, Howard Roark, who exhibits a radical individualist heroism, and Dominique Francon, an anima figure who…

Gay sons’ personal experiences of the ways in which their father raised them have not been thoroughly addressed in the current body of literature. Utilizing Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (Smith, Flowers, & Larkin, 2009), this dissertation explores the lived experiences of gay men as they share their childhood memories of their father’s paternal caregiving practices as…

A significant number of immigrants internationally are bicultural and bilingual and must negotiate being suspended between their culture of origin and the host culture, a process that entails shifting between the two. Differences between the cultures can cause conflict within the psychological makeup of the immigrant and affect self-identity. This qualitative study sheds light on…

Schizophrenia affects approximately 51 million individuals over the age of 18 and is considered one of the ten most disabling non-fatal disabilities worldwide. However, everyday people are coming out to share their stories of recovery and ability to move past their diagnosis to do great things in their lives. The aim of this study was…

This theoretical hermeneutic study engages a Jungian psychological perspective to explore the experience of physical disability within the American cultural context. The ideal of bodily perfection within this cultural context and the resulting psycho-social impact on individuals with physical disability is discussed. It is argued this impact undermines personal validity and generates a perceived failure…

This somatic, depth psychological, intuitive inquiry explores the transformative and healing effects of the process of remembrance of blood ancestors in body, heart and mind as the Maya, the researcher’s paternal ancestors, understand na’b’al, blood memory, and the way ancestors are brought into present, living relationship through remembrance of ancestral story, culture, and ceremony. This…